Watermelon
by Menolly Harper
Summary: Scorching summer...another year goes by...scorching mind...another eternity. Whatever was and what is to come must always be. SakuraSasuke. Oneshot.


**Watermelon.**

_By Menolly Harper_

Some may say, "Just a fruit to relax in the sun with after a hot day…" or "Fun to run with in a game where people try to crush yours to get you out…"

But I say;

It's more than that…

It had been the start of a bright morning; the glowing sunrise came over the surrounding forest outside the village, forcing the cliff face of ancestors past to emerge from their shadows. Sakura peered out her second story bedroom window as she clambered out of soft covers and dreams left behind.

Crossing the room to sway the curtains apart she felt the dawn sun filter into her room, lightly warming it. A smile presented itself upon the girls' lips; it was the twenty-third day of July. The day that her dear friend and hopefully to be more turned thirteen.

Falling into her morning routine as every morning before the young cherry blossom girl flitted away…

Crystalline skies reflected upon the ground, scorching the surface of rocks and sand under false gaiety.

Pattering feet and bright smiles all around.

The wind tousling hair and hopes, the smell of wood and dry oven air. Sakura spotted Sasuke walking down a near empty street. After all, it was the most stifling part of the summer day and most villagers were inside or sitting under the shaded wood.

"Sasuke-kun! Wait up!" She ran toward the black haired boy as he slightly slowed his gait. Hands on her knees after she skidded to a stop Sakura breathed in, suddenly without air because of the suffocating heat. Bringing a hand up to wipe at her brow and straightening upright she looked at Sasuke in the eyes, giving him a warm but somewhat coy smile.

"Hey."

Dark eyes bore into hers, penetrating her flirtatious demeanor, leaving her with only genuine affection. Sakura blinked but did not turn away nor flit her eyes.

"I wanted to wish you a happy birthday! It's your thirteenth, right?" Sparkling eyes.

"A-a." Shortness.

Slightly pressing her shoe into the dirt beneath it she held her everlasting patience with her crush.

"I was wondering if you wanted to go get something to eat with me? My treat of course! It is your birthday after all." Hope and plotting.

"_I hope he accepts. I really want to have him like me…or for me to actually know him?" _Inner conflict.

He slid his eyes to the right with a tiny tilt to the right, as if going over a preempted schedule.

Many moments of silence later another pause, then:

"I suppose." Almost reluctant.

Sakura lit up completely, nearly jumping into the air with utter glee. Grabbing a hold of Sasuke's wrist, she pulled him in the opposite direction of where he was walking previously.

Looking back at him over her shoulder as she led him, "Let's get some watermelon! It's fantastic this time of year and so juicy it almost makes you forget about this heat!" Blushing strands hovering.

Onyx widens a fraction, a curve forms.

Once a whisper now a ghost. Gone…almost forever.

The hyperactive girl looked back at her companion, forgetting anything her mother ever taught her about manners and consideration she nearly halted.

Sasuke caught himself from falling into her. _Once but not twice._

Nearly turning the color of her hair, Sakura quietly and ashamed, asked, "I'm sorry Sasuke, I didn't think to ask…do you like watermelon? I just assumed…" Tilting her head to the right.

Amazed at the sheer flexibility of the girl before him and her moods, Sasuke could only nod in response.

Smile back in place as her frown had looked so…substituted….Sakura jumped back into her previous actions and tugged Sasuke once again toward the watermelon stand…

Two halves.

Under the shaded woods by the stream the two teenagers relaxed and practically inhaled the watery fruit. Sakura, forgetting her lady-like manners finished before Sasuke, eager to devour her half of the melon before they had even sat down.

Cupping her hands in the water, she lifted them to her mouth to wash away the sticky melon substance.

The afternoon was filled with calming silence. Then nervous silence. Then anticipatory silence.

"Thanks."

Sakura nearly fell at sound of his voice. So devoid of their surroundings since they had arrived.

He still sat there stonily, looking past the fallen bare rinds of the melon long gone toward the shimmer of the stream.

Finding her voice finally, and pausing until the certainty that she would not crack or squeak, "No problem! The pleasure was all mine, really. Thank you for accepting my invitation." Blushing slightly at her own words she plucked a spurt of grass by her and began to twiddle it between her thumb and forefinger.

Sasuke looked on at her, wondering how she could always manage to apologize or thank for something that was not meant to be or it was not needed.

Because it was more than her words; her meaning was more than her words or her looks or her actions.

Sakura let the blade of grass fall to the winds as she got up as to walk past Sasuke and pick up her kunai that she had let dry on a rock after washing it of melon juice when she tripped over the forgotten rinds.

"Owwww…" She groaned as she lifted her bruised ego and dirt-covered forehead from the blistering ground. Sakura could barely stand to look up at the dark haired boy that she so solely revered.

Silently.

Then a look of acknowledgement.

"Sakura."

Blinking sea foam eyes up at Sasuke, Sakura was at a loss for words.

Embarrassment.

Childish musings.

But it all came to and end as something a little more comforting.

A little more real…came to pick her up.

"More than that."

"Eh? Sasuke-kun…" The girl held the boys eyes for a moment after he took her hand and pulled her to her feet.

He turned. Not saying another word for moments that seemed like hours that could have passed on for days if it weren't for the only thing that life called time. That she called happiness.

He looked back at her, the fading afternoon glazing over his eyes, but not clouding. For his eyes spoke more than he ever could. She knew that. And for all of her hoping and for all of her loss and gain and loss again…she knew…

Yes.

It meant more than that.

What started off as a fall and what started off as a mere girlish hope in the beginning led to a long but so very short journey that I would give a thousand lifetimes to live again.

And forever will I.

- - - - - - - -- -- - - - - - -- - - - - -- - - -- - - llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll---------------

I hope everyone enjoyed that. The theme, watermelon of course, was a lovely idea proposed yesterday by Miko-Hime.

I recommend reading my theme challenge to her, "Sticks" that I proposed yesterday as well.

It is also Sakura/Sasuke.

I know I haven't written anything is a very long time. And I'm sorry that I haven't. I've forgotten the joy of writing, really I have. I like doing these little one-shot challenges, and I hope to do more in the future.

I also hope to finish writing my other fanfics too. The chapters may not be as long as hoped to be because I seem to have a problem finishing long chapters. I tend to run out of ideas throughout the chapter.

Thank you to everyone that has reviewed me and has supported me.

Please just for a while longer, I am fond of this piece and would like to know your opinion.

The style is odd, I grasp this. But I like it, it is my own. And the short, grammatically incorrect sentences are on purpose and own a purpose.

Anything mistakenly spelled or used and I didn't catch, is my fault and went unnoticed in my read over.

-Menolly


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